Royal Mail unveils golf-buggy style e-bikes to be used “on roads, cycle lanes and cycle paths”; “Why aren’t you on the motorway?” Cyclist’s perfect response to irate driver; Robin Gemperle wins Transcontinental + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
E-buggy-bikes?
It’s a brave new world, and the post is moving into it…
Royal Mail has announced it is to start rolling out 20 ‘electric cargo cycles’ to improve their deliveries.
The cycles themselves… don’t really look like e-bikes, and that’s because they’re not, although they do have an EAPC-compliant top speed of 25kph (15.5 mph). They also have four wheels, with a cabin-structure built around the saddle, whilst a storage space behind for letters and parcels.
The Pedal 4 has a weight limit of 300kg, whilst a single battery only lasts up to 30km, though for all we know Royal Mail might have purchased additional batteries, which can be charged with a standard plug socket.
The cycles have been made by British tech start-up Minimal, who have hailed Royal Mail’s investment in the project… “Their decision to scale Pedal 4 throughout the UK is the clearest possible signal that right-sized electric vehicles will be central to how we move goods through cities more efficiently.”
Royal Mail are meanwhile keen to tout the cargo cycles’s environmental benefits: “Our new electric cargo cycles mark another important step towards reaching Net-Zero by 2040 and making our delivery network more efficient for the future. They will help reduce emissions and improve air quality in the communities we serve, while creating new opportunities for people to join Royal Mail without needing a driving licence.”
That last point might prove to be the most contentious… with Royal Mail saying their fleet will be able to “operate on roads with speed limits of up to 30mph, cycle lanes, cycle paths and greenways.”
Fingers crossed it doesn’t become ammunition when cars feel held up by the slower-moving car-shaped vehicle in the road, or when the Pedal 4 rider suddenly parks up to make some deliveries and ends up obstructing either a pavement or cycle lane in a manner more obstructive than a bicycle with panniers.
For now, unless you’re in London, Brighton or Cambridge you won’t be seeing one of these machines for a little while, but fingers crossed they can be used and respected on the road a bit more than ordinary cyclists are. I suspect they might end up being perceived like a motor vehicle on bike lanes and paths, and an e-bike on the roads.
Cyclist crashes up, but fatalities down
A big hand to Ryan, who has spent his day diligently going through the latest Department for Transport road safety statistics, and I suspect half losing his mind in the process. Meanwhile I’ve been sharing memes and riffing on Mondrian and Kraftwerk. Thankfully, roles are reversed tomorrow…
Racing round-up: Van Aert cruelly denied
Today’s stage at the Tour of Denmark was rather dull until the final bunch sprint, where we had a photo finish!
It doesn’t get much closer 🫣
Jensen Plowright timed his sprint to perfection, surging through the bunch in the closing metres to deny Wout van Aert and win Stage 2 of the Tour of Denmark. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/7qpHIu3IBh
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) July 30, 2026
Remarkably, Jensen Plowright was given the win very quickly but that’s currently being challenged…
If this is the photofinish, Van Aert won. But they are giving Plowright the victory #PNDKR26 pic.twitter.com/B3z6FKZRaS
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) July 30, 2026
We might have to pick this story up tomorrow… Elsewhere, young Markel Beloki followed the wheels he needed to follow to take the overall win at the Tour de l’Ain. The stage was won by Axel Mariault after a late attack by young Irishman Jamie Meehan was reeled in, but the Cofidis man can be more than happy with third place on the podium…
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And finally, the Commonwealth Games track cycling got underway today and continues into the evening, we’ll have a full round-up on tomorrow’s live blog…
Welsh Government announce £4.5 million in Grand Depart funding
There’s obviously a long way to go, but it’s interesting how, to me at least, the Welsh Government has been significantly more proactive in championing the Tour de France Grand Depart than its Scottish counterpart, despite Edinburgh actually hosting the start of the men’s race.
Earlier this month we covered the First Minister of Wales celebrating one year to the start with a ‘Cyclist Welcome’ scheme to promote Wales as a cyclo-tourism destination. It also led to this excellent photo of Rhun ap Iorweth wearing a bucket hat…
Then on Sunday the Welsh Government announced £4.5 million was being made available to support cycling tourism infrastructure “designed to leave a lasting health, sporting and economic legacy from the Tour de France Grand Départ.”
Projects will be delivered by local authorities and national parks which will bid for funding from the government’s Brilliant Basics fund. “All approved projects will need to not only add value to the visitor experience but also provide benefits for the communities where tourism takes place.”
Examples of suggested infrastructure includes “a national network of destination cycling hubs, micro-hubs and signage. Facilities [funded for] could include secure cycle parking, storage facilities, e-bike charging, maintenance stands, water provision, bike hire and cycling information.”
So, if you’re living in Wales, start petitioning your councillors to make cycling even easier, because they now have one less excuse not to fund it!
Enterprise Minister Adam Price says, “The Tour de France will give us a unique platform to promote Wales on the world stage, attract visitors and investment, encourage healthier and more active lifestyles, and create lasting opportunities for communities and businesses across Wales.”
I’m inclined to agree, so long as they do a job of making a proper legacy of it all, and don’t mess it up like in Yorkshire…
Special kits for Tour de France Femmes
It’s a commentator’s nightmare for a team to suddenly change their kit immediately before the biggest race of the year. You can have excuses at the Tour Down Under in January, but surely not by July. I feel for them, at least.
Among the switches, Canyon//SRAM have opted for what I’m going to describe as a pastel wash…
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But I’m gonna focus on Fenix-Premier Tech, with a lovely homage to Mondrian and La Vie Claire, at least according to me, incorporating sponsor colours into neat squares…
The team’s statement explaining the design is sadly a bit more cooperate, acknowledging the colour schemes of title sponsor Fenix and team partner Zwift, whose #WatchtheFemmes branding has taken off in recent years across the sport. Still, any excuse to insert Mondrian into the live blog can’t be passed up…
Vingegaard on the ground
Not on the floor, to be clear (even if he is if you know what I mean). Jonas Vingegaard has visited his Visma-Lease a Bike teammates in action at the Tour of Denmark with his eldest daughter…
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Today’s stage passes very close, incidentally, to the fish factory the teenage Dane worked in, hence his local nous. There’s also this incredibly cute footage…
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To be already out of a sling bodes pretty well for his return to racing. Could we see him in action before the season ends in October?
Berlin Grand Depart planned for 2029
It never takes long for Tour route speculation to bubble up, and we could be going back to Germany in three years time.
The state governments of Berlin, Sachsen-Anhalt, Sachsen & Thüringen have reportedly submitted a joint bid to host the Tour de France in what would be the 40th anniversary year of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The last time the Tour started in Germany was in 2017, when a Welsh bloke won the opening TT in Dusseldorf and Kraftwerk performed a concert to mark the occasion, with the band hailing from the city. Sadly, this fan footage of them performing their most apt tune will have to suffice…
They also collaborated with Canyon on a bike…
> Canyon and Kraftwerk celebrate Tour de France with a VERY special bike
I’ll also give an honourable mention to Lukas Knöfler’s substack piece which does a good job of summarising the financial shortcomings and misguided vision behind elements of the bid…
A useful retort?
When heckled by a driver, there may be all manner of thoughts that cross your mind. Do you plead ignorance, play deaf, or retort? If it’s the latter, rudeness is never ideal but often comes across for merely having the nerve to express an opinion in the same manner as the driver.
It’s a tricky conundrum, but one Reddit user thinks they’ve come up with an excellent response…
“Whenever you come across one of these specimens who blurt out [“Why aren’t you using the cycle lane?] Rebuttal [sic] them by asking why they aren’t using a motorway. I’ve started using this as a default response to being asked why I’m not in the bike lane.
“It does really beg the question though… why aren’t you using the motorway? It’s almost as if using fragmented “infrastructure” doesn’t always take you to your destination. In this case motorways aren’t really fragmented so the argument of why people don’t use them are even more in our favour.
“To state the obvious I am aware people drive around children and also those who genuinely have to drive to get around. I am not having a go at drivers, just the ones that blurt out the bike lane nonsense.
“This morning, I had a driver tell me there was a bike lane and I should be in it. To which I asked him why he wasn’t using the motorway.. window rolled back up and off he went.”
Despite the merits of this specific encounter, other users were cautious of setting a precedent of engagement, warning them to “Let [the driver] drive on and forget about it,” a sentiment the original poster agreed with.
We’d be interested in opening this up though, if you have any good quips you’ve used in the past, or any instances that have reinforced for you the importance of ignoring a diatribe, let us know!
...Yes
“We need a public debate on the role of cycling in London”
Yep 👍
And the debate topic is:
“how do we rapidly accelerate the reallocation of road space to cycling in order to accommodate the soaring demand from Londoners for better cycling infrastructure”
— OpenChiswick (@OpenChiswickW4) July 29, 2026
Cyclists like watching cycling
We will… eventually… move on from the men’s Tour de France (not least since we’re now two days away from the women’s race getting underway) but this is quite a lovely video.
It’s also reassuring to know that pros actually like the sport they do…
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Robin Gemperle wins Transcontinental
Was it ever in doubt? Robin Gemperle started fast, built up a lead, then never gave his rivals a chance to catch up. He finished his odyssey this morning, travelling from the northern tip of Norway to the southern tip of Greece in 10 days, 8 hours and 55 minutes,
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The only man who closed the gap to the Swiss off-roader was Nicolas Chatelet but that appeared to be through sleeping less than going faster. Gemperle reached the finish at 5:55 local time this morning whilst Chatelet should make it to Kalamata in the next hour or so…
It’s difficult to exaggerate how far ahead they are over the rest of the field however, with the majority of competitors still in Poland, Czechia or Serbia. Meanwhile Albania is where we find the leading women, with Sarah Bosslet having opened up a small lead overnight on Camille Albissier, with Lea Hamberger close behind. I’m sure our friends at off-road will be all over this in the coming weeks…
The story UAE didn't want...
This is a really good piece from Ryan. We can’t stress enough there’s no evidence of doping within any UAE squad, but the association of both the men’s and women’s teams with individuals like Napolitano doesn’t help anyone (the team, fans’ trust or the athletes who are questioned on this)
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@chrisonabike Or, alternatively, they've had the experience of swallowing a bug at 15.5mph and don't want to repeat it.
@OnYerBike Yeah, the death of the DHB/Aeron/other Wiggle-imprint 'brands' as good-quality kit basically killed Wiggle as a distinct outlet. It just became another generic retailer website once it had no unique products. I miss DHB kit, it was such good value!
Can't say I'm entirely surprised - as far as I can tell, since the takeover, wiggle, CRC and Evans have all been exactly the same website, with exactly the same stock, same prices etc., just different branding. I don't see any point maintaining three separate brands with no attempt whatsoever to actually provide a distinct offering under each.
We keep hearing about how much damage a heavy eapc can do but surely the rider's weight has more influence. The weight of the bike has little additional impact if the rider is 100kg.... A 20kg eapc and a 70kg rider is less!
Another confounding factor is that your average e-bike user is more likely to be a novice rider. There are so many other variables that go along with e-bikes vs standard bikes that it's impossible to draw any conclusions from the correlational (uncontrolled) study.
@chrisonabike No idea - I was just sharing what I saw on local Facebook, posted by a local councillor with info from the local police!
@Bungle_52 yep, it's a balance. Those who already cycle, will. And (in the UK) we are justifiably suspicious about "great new infra" (and even more how drivers will ignore it) / irked by "get off the road" demands. OTOH given that plenty of streets are 30mph, and "20 means 25" and loaded with shopping on my town hack I'm not doing near 20mph either ... I *am* "in the way" (albeit to nobody's great inconvenience). And even on speedier machines I've almost zero desire nowadays to claim my "right to the road" on many A-roads. And "not cycling with motor traffic" / "I want to travel with others side-by-side" are extra blockers to most people taking the bike. So I'll keep saying "look what we could have - to *everyone's* benefit". But until we get there keep using whatever infra works for me!
Accountability is good, but is this it? Or is this really for publicity / PR? All the cycle and scooter hire vehicles I've seen elsewhere have fairly legible ID numbers somewhere on them anyway, albeit not as a "numberplate". Remind us how it works with motor vehicles again? "Sorry, it's a hire / pool vehicle, we've no idea who was in it". Or "it's my vehicle but maybe the plates were cloned? I've no idea who was driving it anyway, wasn't me". Then: follow the money. For many dockless funding models (Forrest included) it's not the riders or the locality providing most of the money, it's the investors. I've no idea if the "exclusivity" here also involves the borough paying a good fraction of their costs. But I suspect they have limited leverage with Forest.
Im pretty sure they meant Byway BS.
@Blackthorne83 He would, but he's eaten his bike
33 thoughts on “Royal Mail unveils golf-buggy style e-bikes to be used “on roads, cycle lanes and cycle paths”; “Why aren’t you on the motorway?” Cyclist’s perfect response to irate driver; Robin Gemperle wins Transcontinental + more on the live blog”
Actually we already have a significant number of these vehicles (I don’t know if it’s a name in common usage, I refer to them myself as e-quads, short for electric quadricycles) in London, used by Amazon, DPD and a number of other delivery services and small businesses, and they don’t really cause a problem. Car drivers seem to regard them as one of their own and don’t hassle them (that I’ve seen, at least) and cyclists are usually tolerant of them. At 15 mph they don’t get in most cyclists’ way in cycle lanes and they are not really any wider than large bloke on a mountain bike so they are quite easy to overtake if you want to. They can be a bit frustrating on one-way narrow cycle lanes but it’s not often that there isn’t a chance to overtake fairly quickly and anyway, if one is exceeding 15 mph one should really be thinking about not using the cycle lanes and using the roads instead. I should think the drivers get fed up with the number of people saying “I wish I had one of them” when it’s raining, but in general they are a good solution to urban deliveries and definitely preferable to sharing the road with enormous limited visibility Transit vans.
That royal mail “e-buggy bike” looks suspiciously like a milk float. I quite like the idea, quaint.
@Rendel Harris I wonder if they will park in cycle lanes like the vans do.
@Bungle_52 The ones I have seen don’t, as I said they are not much wider than a large cyclist with MTB bars so they can safely (and I presume legally) park on pavements when making their deliveries without obstructing pedestrians, given that, in London at least, segregated cycle lanes almost always run alongside wide pavements. If they were to stop in cycle lanes that would be annoying, although at least they are narrow enough to ride around without having to use the road/pavement, unlike the motorised vans.
@Rendel Harris We have a pavement parking ban, but around here at least, royal mail vans are already exempt, subject to certain caveats, such as allowing at least 1.5m, and only being stopped to do their work.
@FionaJJ In London they’re allowed to stop on single and double yellows to deliver packages or empty pillar boxes; in practice they take this as carte blanche to park wherever and whenever they want, such as this chap on the Brixton Road who pulled into the bus/cycle/motorcycle lane without indicating, as I approached at 20mph, to park on a red route, response to a remonstrance, “I suppose you never get post delivered do ya?”
I’m not opposed to any electric vehicle where the operator isn’t wearing a face-covering and where the police aren’t determinedly looking the other way when they pass.
Local news from Hampshire – Eastleigh Council is trying to shut down the local bike park. Apparently it doesn’t have planning permission.
I’ve cycled past it probably hundreds of times and I didn’t even know it was there, so I don’t think it’s causing any problems.
@Tom_77 Link for their website – https://www.shamblewood.com/
“One of the very few in the country” is an interesting claim, considering there appears to be a Cycling UK funded bike park not far up the road:
https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/lucywatherston/discovering-new-place-cycling-stoke-park-woods-bishopstoke
Notable, though, that the council in question is one of the other funders of that park – raises a question as to whether they may have been somewhat prompted by not appreciating the ‘competition’ taking attention from their own project.
Aarghh! Unbalanced brackets!!
)
Phew – that’s better.
I’m sure the UCI will be along shortly to punish those riders for not ‘defending their own chances’.
My go-to “why aren’t you using a bike lane” is simply “I am” followed by a smile and “good day to you too”. Although I do try to avoid the cheery wave as I pass the driver at the next set of lights.
With regards to those “new” Royal Mail e-cargo vehicles…
I saw a few Amazon branded ones a few years ago, but they don’t seem to have taken off/expanded i numbers as much as they should.
Which is surprising given how much more versatile they are than the larger vans that are still being used, causing extra motor traffic headaches for everyone.
So I wonder if these will suffer the same fate.
@mitsky I am seeing those Amazon ones in Manchester pretty much every day.
This is how it normally goes:
Mo: Why aren’t you using the cycle lane?
Cy: Why aren’t you using the motorway?
Mo: I’m in a caaaaaarrrrrrr!
Cy: ‘\_(ツ)_/’
Royal Mail bringing new anything should be welcomed with open arms.
They have flagship depots that have the latest. The vans in smaller depots come with a smell of rubber bands and cigarettes. With an “in house” mot testing facility allowing vans to pass an mot without a proper check.
Ive been asked to drive vans with no shock absorbers. Taped up doors with masking tape. And told to drive around in 1st gear all day.
Steer clear of RM vans!
@david21
Such as this one…
“motorways aren’t really fragmented”
Here in Glasgow we’re campaigning to fragment the motorway: https://removethem8.org.uk/
I did once get an apology from a taxi driver who shouted 2Why aren’t you using the bike lane?” when I pointed out it was a contraflow bike lane for cyclists going the other way down the one-way street.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Howard+St,+Glasgow/@55.8565131,-4.2539604,3a,75y,290.55h,63.82t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sfvexj6ssiGo4jBskrfBo7A!2e0!5s20190801T000000!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D26.177122615053015%26panoid%3Dfvexj6ssiGo4jBskrfBo7A%26yaw%3D290.5468955080776!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48884698c69d0d4f:0xca6d3d947819f6e2!8m2!3d55.8563738!4d-4.2530347!16s%2Fg%2F1tg4__qq?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDcyNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
This is the best retort for any situation.
My favorite rude driver retort was when I had two teenage children and there were four cars in my driveway.
Driver: Get off the road!
Me: How many cars do you own? Just the one? I own four. Get off my road!
Not a reply to car drivers but one I do like using on the fairly regular occasions some mean-spirited grumbler complains about bikes on trains (almost invariably when the train is less than half full and the bike is neatly tucked in the legitimate bike space!), muttering, “You’ve got a bike, why aren’t you riding it?” to which I like to reply, “You’ve got shoes on, why aren’t you walking?”
RE: Royal Mail 4-wheeled “bikes” – should be worried in case they get Fujitsu to manage the routing and logistics…
Will Royal Mail release facts and figures that really matter – costs of acquisition, costs of maintenance, impact on productivity, depreciation, loss of residual value? Zero-emission vehicle means carbon emissions are released upstream.
Well, many of them are more correctly “emit elsewhere”.
However as we do successfully move away from “coal, oil, and latterly gas and wood” the fraction that is actually emitted does go down.
So overall, welcome.
(It’s complicated… the renewables business is just business like any other so we aren’t keen to discuss all the resources being used / new places that get trashed. Example being how much steel (mostly still “dirty”) and concrete we need for the new infra.
And of course where humans can, they will, as much as they can afford, so Jevons Paradox applies).
RE: Royal Mail 4-wheeled “bikes” – hadn’t they been trying to ditch the bikes for ages (like society overall)? When they did they dumped them in favour of vans plus those trolleys.
Overall if this means it ends up more “micro-van” rather than “walking plus full size vans” I guess a degree of pedalling is an improvement?
When Royal Mail and parking came up before someone said they can ditch their vehicles where they want (if they have to/within reason… but nobody’s going to do anything about it).
The real issue is all the other commercial deliverers do that anyway. Plus most of the rest of the population…
A couple of my own examples of “You’re not a car” style comments.
And not forgetting “the car have priority…” clip:
I’ve long been a fan of using the “you should be on the motorway” retort to “you should be in the cycle lane” because it’s equally stupid/appropriate.
For the last month I’ve been cycling backroads most days and doing a social experiment. I’ll stop by a passing place at the first opportunity to let the first car behind me pass. If they wave, flash their hazards, say thanks or otherwise acknowledge I’ve inconvenienced myself to give them priority, I’ll do the same for the next one. I’m still waiting to do it twice, and usually catch up with them within 200m anyway
I’ve used the “why aren’t you on the motorway?” one before, except here it would be “highway” or “Interstate.”
The other one I like is:
“Get on the sidewalk!” (pavement)
“On the side what?”
“On the sidewalk!”
“So it’s not called a side-bicycle then?”
Also one I’ve used a couple of times:
“You’re not a car!”
“Neither are you!”
Isn’t the joke:
“You’re not a car!”
“No, I’m actually an ambulance, but I dress casually out of hours…”
What happened to my comment yesterday with these examples of “You’re not a car…” :
Not forgetting “The car have priority…”
I only watched the last one, that’s enough for me! A punishment pass and a clueless passenger. Did you op snap that one?
I don’t love the motorway comment. What if they’re miles from a motorway? The get in the cycle lane comment is born out of ignorance from people who never cycle. I would just tell them the reason:
It’s full of broken glass, wet leaves, etc.
I’m turning right.
I’d have to keep stopping and then rejoining the road.
I’d have to keep giving way.
It’s full of pedestrians.
Etc.
Or simply ask if they have tried it and leave it at that.
@bikes Sometimes we get that comment when we’re miles from a road with a cycle lane.